The ‘Crazy Jeans’ – on show at the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG). Photo: Dom Northcott.
They began as just another pair of worn blue denim.
But now, the women’s jeans on display at the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) in Civic are a veritable riot of patchwork.
Logos for Vegemite, Aeroplane Jelly, and Gundagai’s Dog on a Tucker Box, along with Sydney Harbour and its bridge, a red-back spider, and dozens more Aussie icons are stitched, beaded and embroidered into every spare centimetre.
They’re aptly called the ‘Crazy Jeans’, and no, you probably wouldn’t want to wear them – they’re “a bit prickly” according to Wendy Saclier.
Just one of the iconic Aussie brands represented on the jeans. Photo: Dom Northcott.
“I had the old jeans, and I thought I could cover them and they could be used again, Wendy says.
“I like crazy patchwork – I’ve done a lot of it over the years – and I had a collection of Aussie icons, so images of Australian things, and I just began covering the jeans. And then adding embellishments of beads and buttons and all sorts of bits and pieces.
“Then I embroidered the seam lines with wool, having grown up on a sheep station in far west Queensland. So it’s got plenty of memories in it from my childhood.”
What are they worth?
“Oh, they’re priceless.”
The jeans are just one of the eye-catching pieces in ‘Stitching Stories: 50 Years of Canberra Quilters’, a new exhibition celebrating the oldest patchwork group in Australia – the Canberra Quilters.
It all began with a newspaper ad on 12 June, 1976.
“In the very beginning, Margaret Rolfe put an ad in the paper,” Wendy recalls.
Rolfe and Judy Thompson, inspired by a quilting revival they’d seen in the United States, invited like-minded stitchers to meet at Rolfe’s Curtin home.
“In the early days, we were called the Patchwork Group,” Wendy says.
“There were about five of us, but it grew very quickly. Because friends told friends, you know. A lot of people had a background in stitching.”
Back then, resources were thin.
“In the early days, we were all hand stitching. We all had either a treadle or an electric sewing machine, and we had no tools. We had a pair of scissors. And we cut up cardboard to make our templates.”
Today, she says, quilters enjoy more machines like rotary cutters, cutting boards and every tool imaginable. Techniques from India, America and England have also shaped the craft locally.
From those five women in a lounge room, the group has grown to about 350 members and now has its own rooms at Cook Community Hub.
Through a variety of quilts on the wall – and an image of the original newspaper ad – the anniversary exhibition traces that journey from those domestic beginnings to today’s place, as the oldest patchwork group in Australia.
“What struck me most in curating this exhibition was how influential this community has been, with many nationally and internationally recognised quilters coming from Canberra,” curator Vanessa Roth says.
“Canberra Quilters don’t just make quilts, they have built a community centred on friendship, learning, experimentation and generosity.”
Among the centrepieces is The Quiltmaker (2012), a towering portrait quilt by acclaimed artist Jenny Bowker depicting Margaret Rolfe.
According to CMAG, Rolfe was the first designer of distinctly Australian patchwork patterns and a key figure in the late-1970s quilting revival.
“Through teaching, publishing and historical research, she encouraged Australian quilters to see their local environment and lived experience as valid sources of design.”
Gentlemen have also been involved in the group over the years, Roth points out. One quilt by husband-and-wife team Beth and Trevor Reed reflects Trevor’s experience with cataracts.
“He didn’t realise he had cataracts for a few years, and then after he was treated, he wanted to represent how he saw with cataracts,” Roth says.
“Hence, there are a lot of colourful spots on his quilt, which are darker towards the edges and become brighter in the middle.”
The exhibition has already drawn strong crowds, with about 60 people attending the opening night.
“Every time I’ve been here with one of the quilters, we’ve also had visitors who have wanted to ask them all about quilting,” Roth says.
Crazy Jeans creator Wendy Saclier. Photo: Dom Northcott.
Fifty years on, the group remains busy.
“We have 350 members at the moment,” Wendy says, noting some who drifted away during COVID have returned with renewed vigour for the anniversary year.
Every Wednesday, members gather at Cook for ‘Wonderful Wednesday’. There are also Thursday night meetings, workshops, retreats and special-interest groups – including Wendy’s monthly “crazy patchwork” circle.
“It’s really an opportunity to talk to others and to share our interests and what we’re doing, and show the quilts.”
Stitching Stories: 50 Years of Canberra Quilters is on at CMAG until 24 May 2026. CMAG is open 10 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday, and 12 pm to 4 pm, Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays.
Original Article published by James Coleman on Region Canberra.
